Motor vehicles commonly use a battery in conjunction with a starter to start a combustion engine. Once the combustion engine is running, the engine may rely on an alternator to provide electricity needed by spark plugs to continually spark and maintain the engine in a running condition. In addition, the electricity provided by the alternator may be used to recharge the battery and/or to run various electronic accessories of the vehicle.
In the case of a hybrid vehicle, a combustion engine together with an electric motor may be used to power the vehicle. In this case, while the combustion engine may function similarly to a non-hybrid, a computer is also used to switch between powering the vehicle with the electric motor and the combustion engine. The electric motor may be powered by a rechargeable battery that is charged using regenerative braking. In the case of fully electric vehicles, regenerative braking may also be used.